HELIX: EPISODE
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ACT I : CLOSEST ENCOUNTERS Sebastian Winslett sat in the back of the darkened saloon, sipping on a hot glass of 'what tasted like' lemon tea. He had arrived a Valoras-13 two days before, under orders from the Department of Temporal Investigations. "Follow those two." They said. "They don't leave Garret's side unless it's important. We need to know what Team Helix is planning. And if it's another time excursion, we need it stopped before it starts." Normally, Bastian would've frowned on a 'grunt' job like this, but this was different, because he knew one of the targets. Back in his days with the Cardassian Occupation of Bajor, he ran a few bombing raids with Jann Jaxa. Although many remembered her for her stunning beauty, he remembered her vicious killing runs against the 'Cards'. The word was, it was almost 'second nature' when she chose to go 'hand-to-hand' and strategically dissect her opponents until they couldn't fight back. She may have been a legend to the Bajoran cause, but she was also a butcher to those on the otherside of the war. And now he was ordered to track her, and her partner Ian Rojeti. The D.T.I. had made Team Helix a priority. According to them, they were responsible for at least two known rifts in thre space/time continuum. One of them, may even have been the catalyst for Starfleet's victory over the Borg in Sector 001. Intentional or not, they were dangerous. And the D.T.I. was going to have to find a way to contain them... or eliminate them. Bastian made sure he was situated a good distance from his targets. They had taken a table on the otherside of the room, but he had a clear line of sight at them. As Jann walk to the bar for the third time and converse with the Gorn bartender, he noticed Ian standing and walking toward the entranceway. Anticipating they were on the move again, he started to gather his things. And that's when he saw Ian turn and smile back at him. And that's when he realized what was happening. It was a classic Bajoran misdirection ploy. "I must be getting soft." He said with a grin, as the thin edge of a Klingon short-blade lightly pressed against his neck. "You have ten seconds to convince me not to bleed you all over this table." He heard a feminine, yet cold voice softly speak at him from behind. "You wouldn't slit my throat with all these people watching, would you?" he asked calmly. Jann Jaxa chuckled. "This is a Valoras planet. They'd probably give me a free drink for giving them fresh meat to roast for dinner. You now have three seconds..." "O.K. How about the hand phaser in my pocket, which I have pointed at your midsection." He could almost feel her grin starting to dissolve. "I wonder how many drinks I'd get, if I served you up already roasted?" He made sure she heard the faint sound of the phaser powering up. After a few seconds, the blade slowly, lifted from his neck, and Jann Jaxa maneuvered to the seat across from him. "Hello Bastian. Didn't expect to see you around here." "Same here, Doc." He replied, finishing his tea. "Last I heard Gul Limmec had you and the kid locked up in his 'House of Horrors'. Who'd you have to sleep with to get free?" Jann didn't want to play games. "Why are you following me?" He signaled to the eight-armed waitress to bring him another drink. "Sorry, Classified." "Would it happen to be a man named Walter Chapel, or maybe Section 31?" "No." he leaned in. "But there are other people who want to keep an eye on your team. After that AXIS fiasco, you have to realize a lot of people are a little 'jumpy' about you guys. Especially since your team's reformed." Jann was shocked. "How did you know about..." "That's not important. What you need to know is you guys have pissed off a lot of people. Rumor has has it, the Breen are offering a king's ransom for Alex Garret's head, after you uncovered that little hijacking operation they had against the Cardassians." Jann smiled. "Well, they should've given us a cut of the profits, like we requested." "Whatever." Bastian sighed. "Here's some word's of advice, for old time sake. Maybe it would be best if you and the kid stay lost for the time being." "Why? What the hell is going to happen?" "Sorry, that's classified too." Jann stood and walked over to Sebastian, who remained seated. "Let me give you some words of advice, Sebastian" She said sarcastically. "...for old time sake. Stay away from us, or things could get very, very messy for you and your classified friends." Sebastian looked up, and gave her a mischievous smiled. "Too late..." "They're still coming!" Tash called out, trying to hold the Helix together. "The engines have maxed out to warp 7. Shields down to 52%. They've been targeting the warp engines from the start, and it's working. Damnit! We've dropped to warp 6!" Alex Garret made his way alongside Kyle K'Nar. "Where the hell are my phasers?" Kyle ran a scan. "Just as dead as they were, when you asked 5 minutes ago!" "What about torpedoes?" "The tubes are shot! Plenty of ammo... no guns...." At that moment, the viewscreen came alive. "This is Captain Jessica Tandem of the U.S.S. Raleigh. You are ordered to drop out of warp and surrender your ship for inspection! I repeat..." "Block that transmission!" Alex ordered as he made his way to Mia. "Who the hell are these guys?" "Secton 31." Tash said. "It has to be. Maybe some of Chapel's boys." Alex made his way to Mia, who was shuffling between the Engineering, and Science consoles. "Give us something we can work with, Commander." She checked Astro-Metics logs. "Three hours ago, we catalogued an asteroid belt near here. Inside, there seemed to be some type of ship graveyard. We registered more than hundred dead hulks in the area." she turned to Alex. "Maybe... we lose them for a few moments in the graveyard, and use the phase cloak to hide in one of the hulks." "How long can we maintain out of sync?" She ran an analysis. "With our current power reserves, we could last about 17 hours in-phase. 20 hours, if we shut down all non-essential systems. " "How far to the belt?" Tash ran the data. "We can be there in 22 minutes, if we're able to sustain warp 6." "Get on it." Alex ordered, finding his way back to the captain's chair. "The last thing we need is to fall into the hands another damn techno-zealot."
"I've found them." Ian said, dropping their modified Valkyrie-Class starship out of warp. "50,000 kilometers ahead, inside that asteroid field. There seems to be large traces of tritanium and abladive armor heaps." he turned to Jann. "A ship graveyard." "Full stop." Jann ordered. "Hail them." "They won't answer." Sabastian called out from the far rear seat. "They obviously went in there to hide from something. I doubt if they answer anyone's hail." "It's worth a try." Jann called back. She returned her attention to Ian. "Anything?" "No. But the engines are powered down, and the shields are inactive. There's traces of recent low-grade phaser fire on the hull." "Someone was trying to disable them, not destroy them." She whispered to herself. "That rules out Chapel." Sabastian made his way from the back. "Are there any other functional ships in the area? Preferrably Starfleet?" Ian ran another signature scan. "Yeah. Steamboat-Class U.S.S. Raleigh." "That's my people." he turned to Jann. "But something's wrong. They wouldn't leave themselves this vulnerable." "Ditto goes for us." Ian broadened his scan. "I think I know where they are." he magnified the image on the viewscreen. "There's some type of space station located at the center of the debri. It seems to be emitting some type of gravametric field which is holding the other ships in an artificial orbit." his scans completed. "And there's enormous life readings aboard." "How many?" "Can't say. I'm only getting partial resolution through the gravimetric field. I can't tell for certain if anyone aboard either ship." After a few moments, Jann turned to her to Bastian. "What do you say, Winslett?" "What?" he answered leaning against a nearby console, folding his arms. "Do it like we did in the old days?" "It seems we both may have people in trouble. Truce?" Sabastian smiled. Jann smiled back and then took the command chair. "Ahead full impulse. Prepare to the landing sequence aboard the Helix." It took them 10 minutes after docking to move their way through the Helix and discover that no one was present on the ship. When they finally made it to the bridge, they found the same thing they had throughout the rest of the ship. Nothing... Ian made his way to the science station. "Let me run a full area scan. I should get better resolution with the Helix's sensors." he ran an extensive scan with Jann and Sabastian looking over his shoulders. "Sensors are picking up Eric in his holding cell. Other than that, the ship is diserted." "I'm guessing my ship's the same." Sabastian said. "But where did they go?" "Let's find out." Jann replied, tapping her combadge. "Computer, display the transporter logs of the last ten trips." Immediately, the data appeared on Ian's Science Console. "It looks like there were two transmissions from the station, and then three more to the station, carrying Alex and the others." "Then, that's where we're going.... as soon as we get properly prepared. Ian, program the nano-systems to monitor this... ship graveyard. See if there's anything we can assimilate to repair the hull." "Assimilate?" Sabastain asked. "This ship's equipped Borg technology. The auto-repair systems is a network of nanite robots who regulate the ships functions around the clock. When needed they can also salvage different materials, energy and technology to reinforce the ship's strengths." "Handy little system." Ian walked to Mia. "We're set. What's next on the menu?" She turned to the others. "Weapon's anyone?"
ACT II : I CAN TAKE AWAY THE PAIN They expected some type of contact when they transported tothe station. They materialized, in a standard Resistence triangular formation. They stood back-to-back-to-back, touching shoulders, with phaser rifles raised and ready. "By the Prophets..." Jann whispered, as they all moved back until they were met by the room's masssive walls. In the dim lighting, they observed rows and rows of bodies lining the floor. She roughly counted about 3 dozen figures of different races, slumped and laying across each other as if they were struck down in unison. "They're all dead." Sabastian whispered in shock. "No." Jann replied, already using her tricorder the survey the area. "They seem to be... comatose. At least, that's what it appears to be." "There's a command console around here somewhere." Ian said. "I'll tap into the system and see if I find Alex and the others." As he exited into an adjacent corridor, Jann and Bastian fanned out to look over as many bodies as they could. Sabastian noticed how cold and stale the air was. While the he was fighting off random bouts of chills, the resting bodies, some with less clothing they he had on, showed no sign of discomfort. "Come on, Doc." Sabastian called out. "Use that 'thingy' to give us some answers." "I don't know what to tell you." she replied, trying to scan individual bodies, hoping something will give her a lead. "As far as I can tell, they all decided to take a nap together. We can deal with this later. Right now, we need to find our missing..." Suddenly, Jann felt a hand tightly grip her ankle, causing her to fall, facefirst onto to one of the sleeping bodies. Sabastian was the first to reach her, promptly jamming his phaser rifle into the cultprit's face. "I got it!" Bastian yelled powering his rifle. "No... wait..." the betazoid woman spoke in a trembling, tired voice. "Utopia.... She promised me..." she mumbled. "At ease, soldier." Jann told Sabastian, as she scanned the woman. "Look at her eyes." Bastian said, shouldering his weapon. "They're red. Are they suppose to be red?" "No." Jann ran more scans. "They seem to be a byproduct ofsomething that's effecting her brain functions. It's as if there's some type of remote connection to her.... transmitting and receiving data at the same time." "Some type of mind control machine?" Bastian asked. "I don't think so. I'm not picking up any energy signals of any kind from her, or this place." She studied the woman's eyes. "But her signal's different from the others. There's something interfering with the process." "Betazoids are telepathic." Sabastian added. "Maybe whatever's doing this, is having a hard time adapting to her physiology." "My... mother was.... never..." the woman babbled. "Why did she... she's not my...." "We can't help her now." He said. "Yeah, but maybe she can help us." she saved the Betazoid's data to her tricorder. "We may be able to use whatever she's doing to counteract the mind control." "I've found them." Ian said re-entering the room. "Alex and Kyle are 12 decks directly above us, and Mia and Kyle are three decks below, in what looks like the engineering section." "What about my people?" Sabastian asked. "I didn't know what to look for, so I tapped the U.S.S. Raleigh's banks for the info. It turns out I picked up movement on the bridge. Whoever's there, is laying low." "Sounds like they can use some backup. I need to be there." he replied. "Not a problem." Jann took charge. "Ian, take these." She handed him, the tricorder and a small tubular weapon. "The tricorder contains the formula for the Betazoid's disruption pattern. If you run into trouble, emit the pulse and tag yourself back to the ship." "O.K. But what's with the air pump?" He asked in comfusion. "Tranquilizer gun ." Jann replied, opening hers and show them. "I modified them to hold a dozen auto-transporter tags each. You're gonna take the lower deck. When you find Alex and Kyle, shoot them each with a tag. They'll automatically be transported back to the Helix, in Cargo Bay 2." "What about me?" Sabastian asked. "I'll tag you. Once you make to the Helix, you can do a ship-to-ship transport by voice command." "Sounds like a plan." he nodded to both of them. "As soon as I get to the Raleigh, I'll try and bring over reinforcements. Happy hunting." Jann pointed the tube gun and fired a small cirular wafer, which caught Sabastian on the chest. Instantly, a transporter signature washed over him until he was gone. And with that, Ian and Jann went their separate ways. "If this doesn't qualify as spooky, I don't know what does." Ian thought to himself as the alien turbo lift opened to the lower decks. Ahead of him, was a long narrow corridor, which was lined with more unconscious bodies. He stepped lighty, trying not to disturb any of the residents. He tried not to look at their faces in the dim light. The blissful smiles were almost grimaces. Two Romulan soldiers in the far distance, still had their disruptors in their hands. A Starfleet officer, and a Klingon seemed to have fallen asleep, with their hands at each other's throats. At that point, he really didn't care what was going on. He just needed to tag Alex and Kyle, and then hopefully tag himself out of there. As he reached the engineering room, he saw that the massive blast doors, which were now blocked open, by more unconscious bodies, had a large amount of photon burns on the surface. "This is not a good thing." After carefully stepping over the bodies and into the room, he promptly pulled out his tricorder. "Where the hell are you guys?" he whispered. Quickly, his tricorder beeped with an answer, and he found his two crewmates in the center of the room. They both still had their phasers in hand, and yet were smiling blissfully, lost in sleep. He pulled out his tube gun. "No rest for the weary." Stepping back a few feet, he aim the gun and shot them both square in the the chest. In a matter of seconds, they were both gone. And that's when he started to hear the voices.... "Bridge..." Sabastian Winslett called out aboard the turbolift. The moment he had stepped aboard the Raleigh, he had felt uneasy. The tricorder had revealed their were a dozen lifesigns all around the ship. But as he made his way through the countless rooms and corridors, he couldn't find a trace of any other soul. Ian's scan concluded that there were movement aboard the bridge, so it had to be his destination. As the turbolift rocketed upward, and then forward, he gripped his phaser rifle with sweaty hands. When the lift stopped it's motion, he took a deep breath, and tried to control his paranoia. When the doors opened, he noticed the lights were dim, exactly like on the Helix and on the station. He stepped out onto the commmand bridge, and as the lift closed behind him, he notice, under the dim light, a figure sitting motionless in the command chair. He knew the back of that slumped head very well. "Captain Tandem?" he called out, slowly inching towared her, yet keeping an eye out for any movement around him. "Captain Tandem? Answer me." he called again, this time centering his gun's site on her. Her slouching posture disappeared, she sat up sternly, and adjusted for uniform. "Hello, Sabastian." her uncharacteristically soft voice called back. Jann Jaxa did her best to stay in the shadows, while she made for way through the upper decks of the station. Walking along what seemed to be the commerce section of the station, she could see the Helix drifting directly alongside her, through the massive view windows. Her thoughts fell upon all the scars and plasma burn marks which littered the ship's hull. Although she believe they posessed the most powerful starship in the quadrant, they didn't treat it as such. "Baby, you need a good tuneup." she whispered to the ship with a grin. As she used the ladder to move up to the next deck, she caught the glimps of something shiny reflecting the window's light into her eyes. She approached it and realized it was the combadge of a Starfleet office. And then she recognized that most the bodies on that level were Starfleet officers. "Bastian's crewmates." she thought. The next thing that caught her eye was that all of them were wearing strange armbands which had small keypads on them. She knelt down to the nearest body and ran her tricorder over her armband. She recognized the signal patterns on the displays. They were similar to the Betazoid woman they found earlier. The armbands were emitting a disruption signal to counteract whatever was controling everyone. Unfortunately, the signal was to weak to be of use. "Way to go, Starfleet." she said with a grin. Using the tricorder, she boosted the armband's power output by triple. Instantly, the woman's eyes popped open. Jann jumped back, falling over another body. At first she observed that the woman's eyes were bright red. But then, the redness began to gradually fade. "Where... what happened...." the woman tried to speak. "Lie still. Try not to excert too much energy." Jann said comforting the woman. The woman looked up at her. "I'm Lieutenant Meg Houston, assigned to..... temporary duty aboard... U.S.S. Raleigh." "Glad to meet you, Lieutentant. But this isn't the time for introductions. I need to to tell me what happened to your crew." At that point, Meg slowly sat up, and saw twenty of her crewmates lying unconscious next to her. "Dear God. She got all of them." "Who?" Meg shook her head. "My mother." "What?" "My mother! But... I wasn't her. Couldn't be her. She's been dead for 3 years." She tried to stand, but immediately fell back down, from dizzyness. Jann saw that Meg was disoriented. "Lieutenant, I need you to tell me what the hell happened?" Meg cleared her head. "We were in pursuit of a small transport vehicle. Alex Garret, the ship's captain was wanted for questioning by the Federation's Department of Temporal Investigations. We traced them to this shipyard, when we picked up automated distress signals from a number of ships in here. We investigated this station... and found almost three hundred bodies unconscious. Some of them were so malnutritioned, that they should've been dead weeks ago. "But they weren't?" "No. We picked up some type of subspace signal, which seemed to be controlling all of their brainfunctions. We concocted these armbands to counteract the signal on a second visit to this place." "What happened?" Meg rubbed her eyes, trying to recall. "We lost contact with the first away team, one by one. We sent three more security teams... but they too fell under my mother's... uh.... her control." "Who's she? What does she do?" Meg looked up and smile at her. "She take's away the pain." she said softly. And that was when Jann saw the red tint slowly returning to the Lieutenant's stare. "O.K... that's our cue the get the hell out of here." she tapped her combadge. "Jann to Ian, what's your status?" There were no answer... "I FEEL YOUR PAIN..." Ian heard the voice call out. It resonated from everywhere, yet nowhere in particular. He swiveled his body around in all directions, remembering to keep his finger on the phaser rifle's hair-trigger. "YOU NO LONGER HAVE TO LIVE IN FEAR" it called out. "This is not good." he said to himself, quickly grabbing the tricorder. At first he was going to survey the area, hopefully to find out who was calling him. But he knew that was exactly what the others did. And look how well it worked for them.... So, he decided to take a different route. He quickly programmed the tricorders automated timing systems, and slung it over his shoulder... just in case. And as he started to slowly make his way toward the door, the voice chimed in once again. "I FEEL YOUR PAIN... I CAN TAKE AWAY THE PAIN..." But this time, the voice was different. It was group of voices, all speaking in complete unison. And when he realized where the voice/voices where originating, he froze in shock. One by one, each of the 20+ bodies laying around him began to open their red-tinted eyes. As this happened around them, he realized that the mass of voices were coming from them. "Prophets guide me." he said, making a dash for the door. But before he could build up speed jumping over the animated unconscious, arms began to reach out for his ankles causing him to trip and tumble face first. The phaser rifle and the tricorder fell out of his grasp, as hand reached out to contain him. Trying his best to get back to his feet, he knew he had time to grab only one of his weapons, so he had to chose wisely. Without a second thought, he grabbed the tricorder. And that's when he noticed the bodies starting to writhe and then stand in defiance. The bunch infront of the entrance were the first to become mobile, so Ian realized he wasn't going to get out that way. Tapping his combadge, he started to panic. "Ian to Jann! We've got trouble!!!!" ACT III : MOUSE TRAP "Captain Tandem? Jessica, what's going on?" Sabastian called out to his Captain, who was now standing a few feet in front of him. Her face was cloaked in the shadows outside of the dim light, but her eyes were rich with a red glow. "I revelation, Mr. Winslett." he replied, her voice almost devote of any emotion. "The pain has stopped." he saw her smile. "No more pain..." "What pain?" his nervousness was starting to show in his voice. Captain Tandem took a few steps forward. "The pain that we've carried with us all our lives. The pain which has tifled our growth, not allowing us to flourish as a species." "Beg your pardon, Captain? But you're talking jibberish!" Captain Tandem stepped into the light, cocking her head to the side in what looked like curiousity. "Why don't you join us, Sabastian? You have alot of pain." Bastian promptly readied his phaser rifle in front of him, when Jessica Tandem grew too close. "Sorry Cap, but I like my pain. It's keeps me from repeating all the stupid stuff I did as a kid. Now, I'd advice you stand where you are so I can...." Suddenly, he caught four more pairs of red eyes staring at him, from the back of the room. They had just appeared! He couldn't believe that four people could've slithered into the area without him knowing it. "I FEEL YOUR PAIN" they all spoke in unison. "I CAN TAKE AWAY YOUR PAIN. I WILL TAKE AWAY YOUR PAIN." "What say i give you pain the old fashion way!" Sabastian said as he fired the phaser rifle.... ...and nothing happened. In shock, he tried three more times to no avail. Captain Tandem smiled again. "The Computer made sure that no photonic weapons work aboard my ship..." and then she pulled out her hand phaser. "...except mine." The Captain Tandem's stunbeam caught him in the mid-section. He fell to the floor unconscious, while the others converged on him.. "SO... MUCH... PAIN..." "Damnit Ian, respond!?" Jann spoke into her combadge for the fifth time. But there was no answer from her teammate. Lieutenant Meg Houston tugged on her pants leg. "The subspace field that controls everyone, also distorts communication functions. You won't be able to raise him." She shouldered her phaser rifle. "Then I'm afraid he's on his own. As soon as I get you out of here, I'll come back for..." As she beant down to help Meg up, she realized it was too late. The Lieutenant's eyes were once again red, and she sported the hynotic grin. "DO NOT BE AFRAID." she spoke to Jann, clumsily rising to her feet. "I CAN TAKE AWAY THE PAIN." "I CAN TAKE AWAY THE PAIN." Then came from the masses of bodies around her. "Oh you've got to be kidding me!!!" Jann yelled as she watched all the bodies, one by one, begin to reanimate. She immediately saw the the entrance was blocked. Wave upon wave of bodies were surfacing toward her like a tidalwave. "ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS ASK ME AND I WILL TAKE AWAY THE PAIN." Came from all around her, but more prominently from the person behind. She turned to see it was Meg Houston, who reached out and grabbed her arm. Jan quickly pulled free from the grip and reached her her phaser. She squeezed the trigger... ...and nothing happened. "Prophets guide me!" she screamed, sending a forearm swing to Meg's face, and then trying to manuever through the mass of rising bodies. But it was apparent she had become cornered in a room with one way out....
"ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS ASK ME AND I WILL TAKE AWAY THE PAIN." the bodies called out in unison as Ian tried to put some distance between him and the 50 or so bodies in the room. But it wasn't easy. They clawed at him, trying to get a firm grip of some kind. But kept hisself offbalance, hoping the others won't be as nimble as they would normally be. "Ian!" a voice called out to him. He looked behind him to see a reassuring sight. "Jann!" he cried out, as he saw her standing in an open doorway in the rear of the room. "This way! Hurry!" she called to him. With last burst of energy, he swung his arm wildly at the converging mob, causing them to stumble back and give him room. With that, he made a quick sprint and dived head-first into the back room. As the door slid behind them, he made his way to the control panel . Small circuitry and wiring was ripped out of the panel, cause sparks and small fires to resonate inside the wall. "That ought to hold them." Ian said turning to Jann, who stood on the otherside of the room. "How'd you get here past me?" "I've always been here." she answered in an uncharacteristic soft tone. "Are you alright?" Ian asked with caution. He stared at her face, looking for signs of the reddist glowing eyes. There were none. "I'm fine, now that you're here." she slowly approached him. "I have something I want to show you." Something in his gut told him to run. "What... what is it?" "Bliss." she responded, stopping just inches from him, and caressing his cheek. "Wonderful bliss, free from the pain." "FREE FROM THE PAIN." a unison of voices called out from behind the locked door. "You're... not Jann, are you?" The imposter smiled. "I CAN BE ANYONE... ANYTHING YOU NEED ME TO BE." she spoke in tangent with the others. "DO NOT BE AFRAID. I AM HERE TO HELP... HERE TO TAKE AWAY THE PAIN." "I don't want this!!" he screamed, pushing himself away from her, but his back slammed into the nearby wall. He knew he had one shot. He reached into his pocket for the tag gun, but found that it was gone. He looked across the room and saw it laying under the room's large desk. It was have fallen out of his pocket when her dove into the room. 'I'm screwed." he whimpered as the imposter placed her hands on the sides of his head. "REMEMBER." he hear all the voices say.... The red tint washed over his eyes, but he didnt' notice. He stared in awe, as the small conference room around them began to melt away as if the walls were made of liquid. The fluid motion disappeared to reveal an all-to-familiar site to him. "I..." he whimpered. "I know this place." "YOU DO?" the Jan-imposter ask. "Why are we here?" "You're asking me? You're the one who caused this." She smiled. "I AM JUST A TOOL. YOU BROUGHT US HERE. SHOW ME WHY?" Ian slowly walked out to the railing of the Promanade... of Tarok Nor. The areas was littered with Bajoran mining workers, and well as a full compliment of Cardassian soldiers. "But this is all wrong. It's not like this anymore?" he turned to the Jann-imposter. "This is Deep Space Nine, back during the Occupation. Back when I was..." "WHEN YOU WERE...." He caught his breath. "Back when I was a prisoner." As if on cue, the workers in the areas began to scurry to the shadows as two gaurds proceeded to drag a Bajoran boy off of a turbolift, and toward the security office. "By the prophets..." Ian said. "That's me..." he felt nausous. "I remember this." The Jan-Imposter placed her hands on his head from behind. "SHOW ME YOUR PAIN." As if by transporter, Ian found himself inside the main security office. "You're going to tell me what the female Bajoran told you. I'm guessing it was the coordinates to Resistance base the terrorists are using to raid our training camps?" the gaurd asked forcefully, slapping young Ian "I don't know... please I..." young Ian responded, but was met with a volley of punches. "Please don't make me watch this." Ian pleaded. "WHY DOES THIS MOMENT PLAGUE YOU?" "It's the day.... I found out i wasn't worthy of my grandmother's legacy." he watched his younger self repeatedly being abused and interrogated. With every blow, Ian could still feel that horrible moment. "This will go on for the next hour or so. They caved in my skull eventually. I lost three teeth, fractured two ribs, and punctured a lung by the time they were finished." "TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED?" "I can't." Ian repeated, trying to turn away. "I don't want to be here. Please, I can't..." The Jan-Imposter forcefully grabbed him. "YOU WILL TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED!" And when he looked up at her, he realized he wasn't dealing with Jann anymore. It was now that Cardassian soldier that beat him unconscious. "WHAT DID YOU DO?" the gaurd said. "I gave up the base!!!!" he yelled out. "I told him everything! I... I.... tried to fight them!" "BUT YOU WERE WEAK!" the gaurd replied. "YOU WERE A COWARD! AND BECAUSE OF YOU, FIFTY BAJORAN RESISTANCE FIGHTERS DIED A HORRIBLE DEATH... A GOOD NUMBER OF THEM ONLY CHILDREN!!" "Prophets forgive me!" Ian yelled, doubling over and grabbing his head. "I killed them all." "YOU KILLED THEM!!! ALL OF THEM!!! THEY TRUSTED YOU AND YOU BETRAYED THE CAUSE!!" "I betrayed the cause!" he repeated, his heart pounding frantically. At that moment, he had never felt so much pain in his life. It was almost unbarrable. "Prophets help me!!" "THE PROPHETS CANNOT HELP YOU!" the gaurd said. "THEY HAVE ABANDONED YOU, BECAUSE YOU ARE WEAK! NO ONE CAN HELP YOU NOW.... EXCEPT ME!!!" "Help me." he whimpered, almost at the point of hyperventilating. "By the Prophets, the pain...." "THE PAIN IS UNBARRABLE!!! BUT I CAN TAKE ALL OF IT AWAY. I CAN TAKE AWAY THE PAIN." Ian felt the soft touch of femine hands, gently grab him and pull him to his feet. When he opened his eyes, he realized that he was back in the conference room aboard the space station, and the Jann-Imposter was once again holding him. "DO YOU WANT THE PAIN TO GO AWAY?" she asked softly. "Please..." he whimpered. "ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS TAKE MY HAND, AND I WILL TAKE AWAY THE PAIN." At that moment, ian knew to take her hand would be a mistake. But the pain was horrific. His heart felt like it was ready to exploded. And to stop the pain, was his only goal. He took her hand.... She slowly pulled him close and softly kissed his lips. Almost immediately, ian felt the pain in his heart quickly start to fade away. He then felt a numbness wash over his body, causing him to go limp. It was pure bliss. His worries, hopes, fears... everything was nonexistent. There was no reason for being. His consciousness was swimming in a sea of redness that was complete bliss... The Jan-imposter let him go, and his body fell limp to the floor, a vague grin running across his face. She exhailed in ecstacy. "Absolutely... Delicious...".
THE BE CONCLUDED
NEXT: Team
Helix at the Mercy EPISODE 14: "Thrall Part 2: Bring The Pain" |